Turning an Edwardian house into our Home

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Plaster Master Class

Finally the progress is tangible, the “worse before it gets better” phase is over and we can actually start to see what our home will look like. Gladly, we have had a few weekends away from DIY whilst the plasterer is in and have the joy of just popping in to take pictures. And to rub our faces up against the walls. Seriously, how can a wall be so beautiful, so smooth.

I’ll be quiet now and show you the pictures.

Starting with what has always been my favourite area of the house, the entrance hall. I mean, I didn’t think I could love it more until I saw how awesome it looks plastered. That smoothness does wonders for my OCD.

We’re making sure to keep as many of the original features as possible, including the shaped corners.

All our ceilings are lath and plaster and, according to the full buildings survey we had done before buying, needed significant repair, and soon. The two options were pulling down and completely replacing or over-boarding and re-plastering. We went for the second option and, so far, are happy with the choice.

In the rooms with cornicing the over-boarding option definitely worked out the cheaper as we wanted to keep that feature. In every room it was certainly the least messy option, taking down a lath and plaster ceiling is no lathing (laughing) matter.

The original cornicing is left in place

Not sure the upstair hallway could afford to lose 5mm

Our bedroom, you may remember, was the site of Greg’s makeshift doorframe that I was promised would be okay when covered by plaster. The finished product is below.

The rest of the room

Begrudgingly I think he was right, but let’s wait until the door is hanging!

All in all, one of the best decisions we’ve made is to have the whole house re-plastered and ceilings over-boarded (not really in our hands, they were falling down). I know it is a cost saving to only plaster those walls that absolutely need it, but the whole house now feels fresh and all the walls will be painted onto new plaster.

Initially, we were going to just do the ceilings and then walls that had areas that needed filling, like the gap where the lounge fireplace was knocked out. We’ve now realised that the value for money you get from plastering is up there with the best out of anything, IF you find the right plasterer (and we 100% have).

We got quotes from two different plasterers, one came in over £8,000 more than the other so our top tip for this particular trade would be to get a recommendation. Checkatrade and similar sites are, apparently, not worth their weight to the consumer any longer. Trades now pay to have a comprehensive page on those sites and because of this can dictate the removal of bad reviews or scores.

On the flip side, we did find our electrician and plumber through Checkatrade and have nothing but good words to say about them. Particularly the plumber. So, if you’re in Hampshire and looking for tips on who to use, let us know!

Now it’s time to paint everything white as a base, so I know what we’ll be doing for the next few weekends…